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China, Russia experiencing ‘highest period of military co-operation’, says US report

China and Russia are experiencing what is arguably their “highest period of bilateral [military] co-operation”, according to a 20 March report published by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Despite areas of tension and distrust between Beijing and Moscow since normalising relations in 1989, the two countries’ militaries and defence establishments “have steadily worked to minimise and overcome these differences”, prioritising defence and security ties, which are now among “the most important components of the overall [bilateral] relationship”, states the research report.

Entitled ‘China-Russia, military-military relations: Moving forward to a higher level of cooperation’, the document points to three key components of Sino-Russian ties: military exercises, military-technical co-operation, and high-level military-to-military contacts.